eWeek has reviewed Debian 5.0, and concludes: "Version 5 of the Debian GNU/Linux open-source operating system offers the same top management tools and processor support that previous versions of the Linux operating system have. There also are a host of updates to open-source components, and the Linux distribution is still a great fit for servers and a solid desktop choice. However, the top reason for upgrading from version 4 may be the relatively short three-year security fix window, less than the coverage time offered with Ubuntu and Red Hat Enterprise Linux-derived CentOS."

The funny thing is (I think) the average Debian dev. is hardly aware of how easy Debian has become to install for even unexperienced users.
They'd probably think, what's the big deal, just to a basic install and later on aptitude install xorg, a window manager etc. later on.
Sure. ;-)
I do use Gnome anyway, if I want a smaller footprint I prefer Openbox. :-)